The eternal verities; a series of plain arguments showing the abundant evidences of the truth of the Holy Scriptures, drawn from various sources

Front matter

OTHER WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Europe and Bible Lands...

Sketches of Travel in Northern Europe and Palestine.

Preface

There is no lack of books on the evidences of Christianity, nor of arguments and facts which demonstrate the authenticity and genuineness of the Holy Bible. Since the days of Keith and Paley this important and extensive field of research has been worked over again and again with painstaking care, and authors, using as a basis the incomparable works of these modern pioneers in research, have given us numerous volumes on the important subject. These works have been, for the most part, written for the minister and scholar rather than for the laity and the common people. There are hundreds of learned books, bulky and costly, profound and too deep for the unlearned, treating on the evidences, but the ordinary reader finds them obscure and not easily understood. The masses of the people will neither buy nor read them, and so remain uninformed as to the abundant evidences of the truth of God's Book.

The purpose of the author in this book is to give a brief and simple statement of some of the most important evidences which have led godly men, who have carefully gone over the ground, to accept the Bible as the Word of God. The writer does not claim originality for this work. It should be regard-

PREFACE.

ed as a compilation of facts gathered from many sources. What is commonly called originality is only a rearrangement of the colors on the canvas. The wise man said there is nothing new under the sun. The author has not sought for the new and novel, but rather for such an arrangement of what we already have as will bring the facts within the easy reach of the people. As to how far he has succeeded in his purpose, the kind reader must be the judge.

If we are to meet the growing evil of skepticism we must place in the hands of our people, old and young alike, the testimony in our possession of the truth of God's Book. In this way they may be prepared, when approached with the sophistical arguments of infidelity, to meet the enemies of the truth.

It is true, as Keith says, that the light of evidence, though sufficient to dispel the cloud of the understanding, is yet unable to penetrate the veil of the heart. Skepticism at best is not a subject for boasting. It is easy to exclude the noonday light from our eyes; and it is easy to resist the clearest truth by hardening our heart against it. Into what else can the want of conviction be resolved than into the scriptural solution of the difficulty — an evil heart of unbelief? It is most difficult to get people to believe who have set their hearts against believing. They will not come to the light that they may see and un-

PREFACE. 9

derstand, and when the light is taken to them they resolutely close their eyes to it and their hearts to the truth. But this does not relieve us of the responsibility of making every effort in our power to send out the light of truth. If the minds of our people are prepared by a study of the evidences of Christianity, and strengthened by a knowledge of the truth, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they can meet the unbeliever on his own ground and need have no fear of the results. Our duty is to place in the hands of all a weapon of defense to be wielded against unbelief.

The author is under obligations to writers who have preceded him in this line of work. The works of Keith, Paley, Pierson, Fisher, Gladstone, Nelson, Osborne, Hastings, Dawson and others have been consulted and freely used in the preparation of these pages. Acknowledgment is made, especially to those here named, for helpful suggestions and for facts given.

In the concluding chapters will be found a series of illustrations showing the remarkable agreement between " the land and the Book." These were for the most part written in Palestine and came under the author's own observation during his five different visits to the Holy Land. It was because the conditions in the land where the Bible was written agree so precisely with the statements made in the Book that

PREFACE.

the writer was first led into a consideration of this subject. It was the purpose at first to give a number of these illustrations in a smaller volume, but later it was thought best to enlarge the work and present them in connection with some of the evidences of Christianity.

This has been done with the ability that God has given. If good shall result from this effort, let His name be praised. It is the fervent prayer and hope of the author that this work of his maturer years may be helpful to many in preparing them to meet the assaults of infidelity upon the Bible and upon the stainless life and perfect character of our Lord Jesus

Christ.

Mount Morris, Illinois, 1902.

Authors Consulted and Used by the Author in the Preparation of This Work.

Keith On the Prophecies.

Paley's Evidences of Christianity.

Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge.

Many Infallible Proofs. Pierson.

Nelson On Infidelity.

A Square Talk. Hastings.

Manual of Christian Evidences. Fisher.

A Plain Argument for God. Fullerton.

Is the Bible True? Brookes.

The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture. Gladstone.

Witnesses to Christ. Clarke.

Divine Demonstration. Everest.

Babylonian Life and History. Budge.

Fresh Lights from Ancient Monuments. Sayce.

Voices from Babylon. Seiss.

Buried Cities and Bible Countries. St. Clair.

Records of the Past. Sayce.

Bible Lands. Van Lenner.

Life of Christ. Geikie.

Notes L T pon the Bible. Osborne.

Lange ? s Commentary on Daniel.

Handbook of Bible Manners and Customs. Freeman. The Land and the Book. Thomson.

Clarke's Commentary on the Book of Daniel. International Cyclopaedia.

Social Life Among the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Sayce.

Egypt and Babylon.

Chapter One. H^teodtjctiou

The Holy Scriptures are the Inspired Word of God.

Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work. — 2 Tim. 3: 16, 17.

The Bible contains the inspired Word of God ; it is perfect and all-sufficient for the redemption of the human race.. " Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among- men, whereby we must be saved." The Book is inspired in the sense that God, by the Holy Spirit, moved directly and immediately upon the souls and hearts of its write^ and caused them to make a record of the things written in the Book ; and this for the very purpose of revealing His will to the children of men. It is all-sufficient because it contains the entire will of God concerning us, and is broad enough and deep enough to cover every want of the human soul. Nothing is wanting in God's perfect

work, His revelation to the children of men. It contains the perfect plan of salvation and, having this, nothing more is needed and nothing less will answer God's purpose.

The words of the apostle Paul, found at the head of this chapter, are inspired : hence it is safe to hold that all inspired Scripture is profitable to the man of God. Portions of it are doctrinal in their character, and these must be believed from the heart; other portions are disciplinary, and are profitable for reproof and correction, and must be accepted so that growth and development may result; while other portions are for teaching and instruction. These must 'be studied and taken into the heart and lived out in the life, so that the " man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work." Completeness, fullness, perfection, and all-sufficiency are found only in the inspired Word of God.

In accepting the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, proper distinction is to be made between what God says to us and what is spoken to and by others. Some of the words of the Book are addressed to a special class, the Jews, and some of the words were not spoken by God. That part of the Book which contains the plan of salvation, the sayings of Jesus Christ spoken to His disciples and the words of His inspired apostles, comes directly to us, and is to be accepted as a direct revelation from heaven. Here are to be found precept and example.

INTRODUCTION. 15

and these are to be obeyed and followed. No commandment, given us in the New Testament Scriptures, is to be set aside as being nonessential : in the atoning blood of Christ and in doing the commandments is to be found the only ground upon which salvation is promised. " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. . . . Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

All laws made by ecclesiastical councils are to be set aside and God's Word accepted instead. The law enacted in the council chamber of heaven and revealed to us in the New Testament is to control the church of God. Conferences have a place only in devising means to carry out the principles embodied in heaven's laws and for the unification of God's people. When they go beyond this they usurp authority and must not be followed. The Roman Catholic hierarchy grounds the authority of the Scriptures on the church. This is an error of great magnitude, for the very reverse is true ; the church is grounded on the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and by them only is the follower, of Christ to be bound or loosed. Any attempt to change or supplement the Scriptures with deliverances of church councils is an unwarranted l6 THE ETERNAL VERITIES.

assumption on the part of imperfect men, and must not be submitted to. Christ was dealing with human laws, made by the rabbis and the Jewish Sanhedrin, the great council of the Jews, when He said: " In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the precepts of men."

From what has preceded we draw this general conclusion : The portion of the Bible directed to us contains the law of God concerning us. It is the only revelation from God to man ; hence the Bible is the only authorized rule of faith and practice. It contains no more, nor less, than is needed for the salvation of the soul, and was given by God for this very purpose ; and the promise of the forgiveness of sins and of eternal life rests upon the atoning blood of Christ, and obedience from the heart to all the commandments in the Bible given us to observe.

Those who accept the Bible as the Word of God may be divided into two classes, and these may be determined by the answers to the following questions : Why do we believe the Bible to be what we claim it to be, the Word of God ? What is the ground of our faith? Numbers there are who believe the Bible because their pious, believing parents taught them from childhood that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God. Thus from infancy they have believed the Bible, and have, with unquestioning faith and with pure devotion to God, obeyed its teachings.

INTRODUCTION. 1 7

Their faith has been strong enough to cause them to lead holy and pure lives, and to die the death of the righteous in the full hope of eternal life. Who will presume to condemn a faith of this kind ?

Others, and their numbers are not so large as the first class, have investigated the ground of their faith ; they have carefully examined the evidences of Christianity; they have, with great patience, investigated the abundant testimony given in favor of the credibility and authenticity of the Holy Scriptures ; they have met and refuted the objections and arguments urged against the Christian religion and the Bible by unbelievers, and, after going over all the ground with the utmost care and painstaking, they are settled and fixed in their faith, because the very closest and most careful investigation proves, beyond all doubt, the truth of the Bible and gives a rock of impregnable defense against the unbeliever.

Under two heads may be classed all that has been said or written on the evidences of the truth of the Bible, — the external, or historical, and the internal evidences. Under the former head are classed all the facts relating to the Bible and its characters, the proofs of the fulfillment of prophecy, the miracles performed, the spreading of Christianity, the faith and devotion of the apostles and disciples of Christ, which led them to suffer persecution and martyrdom, the benefits growing out of the Christian religion iS

THE ETERNAL VERITIES.

wherever it has been properly developed and its precepts faithfully observed.

The internal evidences are to be found in the doctrines of the Gospel, their pure and elevated morality, their adaptation to the wants of the souls of men, their benevolence, uprightness and the holy, elevated character of their Founder.

CHAPTER TWO. A Brief Historical Sketch of The Old Testament

For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. — Psa. 119: 89.

In the history of the Bible is to be found a strong argument in proof of its genuineness and credibility. The books of the Bible are genuine if they were written by the authors to whom they have been ascribed. But it is well to note that a book may be credible, or authentic, even if a mistake has been made as to its author. John Marshall is the reputed author of a life of George Washington. If it were ascertained that the book had really been written by some other intelligent, truthful friend of the Father of his Country, who had known him equally as well as did Marshall, the error as to the authorship would in no way affect the credibility or authenticity of the book. The quality of the truth remains unchanged, independent of authorship.

The Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew, the language of the Jews. It was perpetuated by being copied by the scribes, whose lifework was to make copies of the Scriptures. Great care was taken in making copies, but occasionally an error

crept in. This was sometimes occasioned by care-

THE ETERNAL VERITIES.

lessness, sometimes by inserting in the text marginal notes and sometimes by misunderstanding when the writing was done by dictation. Here began the work of the Massoretes, the name given to an association of learned and devout Hebrews who made the original text the great object of their study, and whose sole aim was to preserve the Scriptures delivered to them by the fathers in as pure a state as possible. In order to do this the minutest rules were laid down and followed in making copies of the original manuscript. The verses, words and letters of the entire Bible were counted and numbered. A catalogue of the words left out by the scribes was made, and all of those were inserted. The letters were also carefully scrutinized and all omissions and erroneous insertions corrected. When copies were made the words and letters were all counted, and if found to agree with the original in number, the copy was thus far accepted. Then the placing of the letters and the spelling were most carefully examined and studied. Such was the care of the Massoretes that their text has stood the test of time, and what is known as the Massoretic text of the Old Testament is now accepted by all Hebrew scholars. It was used in the revision of the English Bible in 1884.

Until the time of Joshua the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, a Greek word meaning the fivefold book, were all the known written

HISTORICAL. SKETCH OF OLD TESTAMENT. 21

Book of God. It was written on carefully prepared skins of animals, known as parchment, and the five books of the law composed one continuous roll. The writing- was done by the scribes and was begun and

Roll of the Law, in Possession of the Author.

completed, probably, in the days of the wandering in the wilderness. Other books were written and added to the Pentateuch until the list was, with the last addition of the prophecy of Malachi, completed four hundred and twenty years before the birth of

THE ETERNAL VERITIES.

Christ. The length of time which elapsed between the writing of the Law and the last book of the Old Testament was one thousand and seventy years. Thus it took over one thousand years to complete the first part of the Bible.

About four hundred and twenty years before Christ, and forty years- after the return of the Jews from Babylon under Ezra, the books of the Old Testament were collected into one book, and a completed list was made of the collection. This was done during the lives of the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. After the death of the last-named prophet the spirit of prophecy ceased. Josephus, speaking of the Old Testament, says that from that time down to his own day, A. D. 80, " no one dared to add, take away, or alter any thing." During the long period of time which elapsed while the books of the Old Testament were being written, the Hebrew underwent many marked changes. From this fact Dr. Osborne draws the following argument as to the genuineness and authenticity of the Book : Had the Bible been the work of an impostor he would have used the Hebrew known at the time he lived, his work would have contained the style, ideas and meanings of the time he wrote, and there would have been traces of the unity of style. But instead of this we find changes in style, new expressions, characteristic of the time when the particular book was written, peculiar additions, and the

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF OLD TESTAMENT. 23

use of words and letters, appearance of new idioms and grammatical forms from Genesis to the latest prophecies. These facts are certain signs of progressive ages, and are so characteristic of the language of the Old Testament that, to the Hebrew scholar of the present time, they indicate the age in which the book was written, and sometimes suggest the historic contents of the book composed in that style of Hebrew. The Hebrew itself frequently vindicates the genuineness and determines the age of the book. After careful examination of this ground, our author says : " It is impossible intelligently to believe any charges of forgery against the Hebrew originals."

The Massoretic manuscripts are divided into two classes. The first, regarded as holy, are the rolls used in the synagogues and are kept in the most holy place. As has already been seen, the greatest possible care and pains were taken in the transcription of these to guard against errors. They contain only the Pentateuch, with an occasional addition of the books of Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations and sections of the books of the prophets. It was from one of these holy rolls that our Lord was accustomed to read in the synagogues.

The second class of manuscripts are known as the common or private, and are written on parchment, paper, and are also printed and bound in book form.

The common manuscripts contain all the books of the Old Testament and are known as the greater Massora.

There are several versions of the Old Testament. A version of the Bible is a translation from the original into another language. After the dispersion of the Jews the Hebrew ceased to be spoken by all of them. It then became necessary to translate the Scriptures into different languages so that they might be read by the Israelites in all parts of the world. Several of the different versions are here named.

The Septuagint. A translation of the Old Testament into the Greek about B. C. 280. Josephus ascribes the work to seventy Jewish scholars, hence its name. This is, however, regarded as a tradition. It was made at Alexandria, Egypt, and was in use many years before the birth of Christ. The quotations in the New Testament were taken from the Septuagint version, showing that it was in general use in the time of our Lord

The Samaritan version is a translation of the Pentateuch into the Samaritan dialect. It was probably made in the second century before Christ. A very old copy of this version is to be seen at Xablous, the ancient Shechem, in Palestine. It belongs to the Samaritan community at that place and was recently offered for sale at Jerusalem.

The Syriac version, also called the Peshito, is a translation of the Bible into the common language of

Silver Case for Roll of the Laze.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF OLD TESTAMENT. 27

the people of Palestine. It was made in the second century of the Christian era, so that the Christians of Syria could have the Scriptures in their own tongue.

The Vulgate, meaning the common or current text of the Scripture, is a translation made by the most learned Christian scholar of his time, Jerome, who lived A. D. 331-420. Jerome's version of the Bible is still used by the Roman Catholic church.

In addition to the versions already named we have the Tar gums, a free rendering of the Old Testament into the Chaldaic Hebrew, made for the Babylonian Jews who by long residence in Babylon had partly lost their language. There was also a version made for the Armenians, one for the Goths, and still another for the church in Africa.

The Old Testament was the Scripture referred to and quoted from by our Savior and his apostles. With the exception of Ruth, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Songs of Solomon, Lamentations, Obadiah, Nahum and Zephaniah, all the books of the Old are quoted from in the New Testament. The Old Testament was held by Christ and His followers as the inspired Word of God. If we accept the New Testament as the inspired Gospel of Jesus Christ, all controversy as to the Old ceases, because it was accepted by Christ.

Like tracing a mighty river from its mouth to its source, so, historically, we trace the Bible from our

THE ETERNAL VERITIES.

day back unerringly to the days of the prophets, when its books were first brought together and named by those men of God. From its source onward, as the centuries pass, it becomes a greater volume of truth until, rounded out and completed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it floods the world in these last days with divine truth. Prior to the invention of printing, manuscript copies of the Bible were to be found in all the libraries of Europe and in the monasteries of the Orient. The revision of the English Bible, completed in 1884, involved the examination of as many as five thousand manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments, some of these dating back to the third century of the Christian era. Going still farther up the stream, we have the Targums and the various versions already referred to, taking us back to two hundred and eighty years before the birth of Christ, when the Septuagint was completed. . And this points with absolute and unerring certainty to an earlier copy in the Hebrew from which the translation was made. It is fair to assume that this was the copy of the Sacred Scriptures of Ezra who lived in the fifth century before Christ. Thus, with unerring certainty and without a single break in the stream, we trace the Old Testament of our times back to the holy prophets of God who wrote and spoke " as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

CHAPTER THREE. Historical Sketch of the New Testament

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. — John i: I.

As we trace the Old Testament from the present day to the days of the prophets, so also the New Testament is traced to the days of the apostles with the same unerring certainty and without a missing link in the chain of testimony. Historically considered, the Book covers a period of about one hundred years ; that is, from the birth of Christ to the close of the book of Revelation. Twenty-seven books, written by eight different authors between A. D. 40 and A. D. 96, make up the volume of the New Testament ; its writings thus cover, in point of time, fifty-six years. The Gospel by Matthew, Eusebius says, was written about A. D. 40. Mark and Luke wrote A. D. 58-68, and John between A. D. 80 and 96. The epistles were written at various times from A. D. 60 to A. D. 96.

The external history of the New Testament, before the discovery of the art of printing, can be traced a thousand years by the manuscript copies. The manuscripts were originally written in Greek. The first, or autograph, copies of the different books very early disappeared. They were written on papyrus, 1 and,

1 2 John, verse 12.

owing to the perishable nature of the material, were easily broken and destroyed. Fragments of New Testament papyri have recently been discovered, and these reveal the fate of many ancient copies, which, if they had been preserved, would be of incalculable value. Those that have been discovered had been used but little ; indeed most of them were found in ancient tombs and had probably not been used at all. Recently a very important find of New Testament papyri was made at Oxyrynchus, Egypt. The photogravure on next page was taken from one of these papyri known as the " Sayings of Jesus." At the same place was discovered another fragment containing a large part of the first chapter of Matthew. These words appear, " Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." The date of these most important documents is given by experts as A. D. 150-200, and they carry the record of the written Gospel back to the time of Polycarp who sat at the feet of John the beloved disciple. Prior to these ancient papyri there must have been older copies of the Gospels from which these were made.

The use of parchment prevailed from the fourth to the eleventh century, when it was superseded by paper made first of cotton and later of linen. Owing to the great scarcity of writing material, often the old skins were re-used by washing off or erasing the original

"Sayings of Jesus."

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF NEW TESTAMENT. 33

writing, and most unfortunately it often happened that it was a biblical manuscript that was used in this way. Thus many priceless manuscript copies of the New Testament were* lost. By the use of chemicals, however, in some, cases the original writings have been recovered in modern times. Such manuscripts are known as palimpsests. Of these the most famous is the Codex Ephraemi, written in the fifth, and erased and rewritten in the twelfth century (the word codex means manuscript) by a scribe named Ephraem. He used a biblical manuscript upon which to write a treatise of his own. The original writing was restored by

SH NeXKgOMeNiTTOTOyTTj'C

Greek Uncial (Cod. Alex. ), 5th century.

(tckvcov crov irepiiraTOvv

h-qv (\a(3ofAev airo rov 7r[ar]p[o]s. — 2 John 4.)

Tischendorf. There are about one thousand known manuscripts of the New Testament. About thirty of these contain all the books of the New Testament, the rest being more or less fragmentary in their character. They are divided, according to the style in which they are written, into two classes : uncial and cursive.

The Uncial Manuscripts. These are written in capitals, without any division into words or sentences and with but few punctuation marks. The translators had a very difficult task before them in reading and translating the uncial writings. The engraving of the uncial writing taken from the Codex Alexandrinus will make the difficulties apparent to the reader.

The oldest and most valuable of the New Testament manuscripts of this character, now known to exist, is called the Codex Sinaiticus. It was discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 in the convent of St. Catharine at Mount Sinai.

A brief account of this most valuable discovery will be read with interest and profit. May 12, 1844, Tischendorf left Cairo, Egypt, for Mount Sinai. Crossing the desert he reached the sacred mountain the twenty-fourth of the same month, and was received and entertained by the monks of the convent. While searching the library, he discovered in the corner of the room a box used for rubbish, in which he noticed some leaves of parchment. These proved to be a part of the now famous copy of the Scriptures, but he was able to find at that time only a few leaves. In 1854 he made another trip to Sinai, but failed to discover the coveted treasure. Finally, in 1859, fifteen years after he made his first trip, Tischendorf gained from the Russian government financial aid and moral support, which enabled him to visit Sinai again. He reached the convent Jan. 31, 1859, and began his

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF NEW TESTAMENT. 35

search for the missing leaves; but he searched in vain, until the afternoon of Feb. 4, when the steward of the monastery called his attention to a manuscript which he had laid away. To the great joy of the German scholar it proved to be the missing manuscript, — an entire copy of the New Testament and a part of the Old. His long search was rewarded. After many perplexities and great difficulties he was enabled to make a copy of the manuscript, and finally succeeded in placing the original in the library at St. Petersburg, Russia, where it still remains. We now have a number of photographic copies of the original.